Kendall Tietz
A Minnesota middle school will no longer give students “F’s” in an attempt to address “systemic racism” after conducting an “equity audit.”
Sunrise Park Middle School (SPMS) announced a new grading scale for the 2021-2022 school year that that does not include anything under 50 percent or any “F’s,” according to a video posted to YouTube.
“Our whole intent is to ensure that grades focus on the process of learning,” Principal Christina Pierre said in the video.
Grades would also “not include behaviors, attitudes, tardiness to class, turning in on time/late, neatness, extra credit, etc.,” a slide in Pierre’s presentation read.
Students will also be able to retake or revise tests, quizzes, papers and projects within 10 days of when the grade is posted, according to Norman Bell, associate principal at SPMS. If 1/2 credit is on a student’s grade report, the assignment is probably missing.
SPMS serves students in grades six through eight in the White Bear Lake Area Schools (WBLAS) district outside of St. Paul, Minnesota. It isn’t clear whether the SPMS’s new grading scale will apply to the other middle school in the district, Fox News reported.
The district’s superintendent, Dr. Wayne Kazmierczak was named Minnesota Superintendent of the Year, according to the SPMS website. Kazmierczak “led the development of an equity commitment statement and adopted a four-way equity decision making protocol to guide the district’s work,” during the 2018-2019 school year, the site says.
After the murder of George Floyd, the district conducted an “equity audit … to develop and implement both meaningful and actionable equity strategies for the district,” according to the announcement. “Grading can be one of the largest areas in which systemic racism and inequities are perpetuated,” the audit concluded.
“Dr. Kazmierczak and WBLAS believe grades should be a measure of what a student knows and has mastered in a given course,” the announcement added.
Pierre and Bell did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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